Eye Catching Beijing Airport Set to open on China’s Communist Government’s 70th Birthday

Beijing is ready to open its eye-catchy, multi-billion dollar, giant airport, which resembles a massive shining starfish. The airport is built in order to accommodate increasing air traffic in China and to celebrate the Communist government’s 70th years in power.

The construction work on the Beijing Daxing International Airport has officially ended on time this Sunday and is now ready for the September 30 inauguration. The day marks the anniversary celebrations of the foundation of the People’s Republic on October 1, 1949, by Mao Zedong.

This year, celebrations are going to witness President Xi Jinping reviewing a huge military parade through the centre of Beijing, along with the opening of the futuristic airport, which is a fitting embodiment of the ‘Chinese Dream’, he has offered to his fellow citizens.

The airport is located 46 kilometres south of Tiananmen Square, and will be operational in full capacity from 2025, with four runways with the capability to receive 72 million passengers every year.

According to an estimate, the airport by 2040 is expected to expand eight runways including one for the military use. By that time it will be able to welcome 100 million passengers every year, which will make it the world’s largest single terminal in terms of the traveller capacity. The Atlanta airport, in the United States, currently receives more than a hundred million passengers, but across two terminals.

Presently, Beijing Daxing International Airport is the world’s second-largest airport but it is already overflowing, with little over 100 million passengers travels through it every year. 

In China, air transport is booming as the living standards of the people has increased along with their desire to travel across the world. By the mid-2020’s it is expected to pass the United States to become the world’s biggest aviation market, according to the International Air Transport Association.

According to an estimate by the International Air Transport Association, China will see 1.6 billion plane journeys every year from 2037, which is a billion more than in 2017. China’s capital Beijing with its 21 million people is expected to welcome 170 million air passengers in the year 2025.

The giant airport is spread over 700,000 square metres, which is equal to the size of a hundred football pitches. Thus the structure will be one of the world’s largest airport terminals. The building was designed by Anglo-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who unfortunately died in the year 2016.

Underneath the airport terminal is a metro line and a train station, which will allow the travellers to reach the city centre in around 20 minutes. The total project cost came around 120 billion Yuan ($17.5 billion).

China’s State television channel CCTV has reported that the Sky Team alliance, which also includes Delta Air France and KLM, will move over to the new airport along with its partner Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines. But, the third-largest Chinese airline, Air China, is expected to keep flying the most of its flights from the Beijing Capital International Airport.